The Perfect Storm

6/8/2015

The Perfect Storm, I just love it so much. "The fog's just lifting, you throw off your bow line, you throw off your stern-you head out to South Chanel past Rocky Neck...Ten Pound Island, past Niles Pond where I skated as a kid-and you blow your air horn and throw a wave to the lighthouse keepers kid on Thatcher's Island - then the birds show up, black backs and herring gulls, big dump ducks - the sun hits you, head North, open up to 12, you're steaming now, the guys are busy, you're in charge - you know what? You're a god damn sword boat captain, is there anything better in the world?" Ordinarily I would write a review that is fair minded and as honest as I can call it, something that hopefully would interest the readers either side of the fence. But here with The Perfect Storm I j

8/29/2020

I recently watched this for the second time, many years after my initial viewing. I confess I didn't always give it my full attention, not just because I had seen it once but also because the plot isn't very subtle, and careful viewing isn't necessary. The dialogue is realistic and well done, but the characters seem a bit stereotypical. You have the grizzled captain whose skills and luck seem to be in decline, a gentle giant with an ex-wife and a kid, a young man desperately in love, the newcomer ready to pick a fight with one of the above and a ladies man who I think was creole, but I am not sure. So the plot bumps along and the special effects of huge waves and wind works to build suspense, only partly successfully. There are subplots also: the meteorologists with their eyes widening

6/20/2026

Perhaps if Wolfgang Petersen had just done without all the dysfunctional family stuff and just taken this crew on their ill-fated mission right from the start, I might have enjoyed this more. As it is, we spend almost an hour learning all about the relationships of "Billy" (George Clooney), "Bobby" (Mark Wahlberg) and of the rivalry between "Murph" (John C. Reilly) and "Sully" (William Fichter) and to be honest, I wasn't in the mood for all that relationship melodrama. However, when we do finally put to sea in their tiny little ship we see a little of just how subsistance this industry can be. If the catches are good, then the cash flows from Michael Ironside's frugal and grumpy owner "Brown". If the catch isn't good, then their share of nothing is only a percentage of nothing. "Billy" has